Garment



L. ROODY April 25, 1967 GARMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 24, 1966 INVENTOR. LULU ROODY L. ROODY April 25, 1967 GARMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 24, 1966 INVENTOR.

LULU ROODY fifth/7704f L. ROODY April 25, 1967 GARMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 24, 1966 INVENTOR. L UL U R0 00 Y flffar/n y United States Patent 3,315,274 GARMENT Lulu Roody, New Hyde Park, N.Y., assignor to Leon Levin Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 574,716

3 Claims. (Cl. 2-71) This invention relates to garments having a skirt body, such as a culotte or a dress,and particularly to a modified form of skirt body used .as a skirt or a dress.

A culotte is an article of female apparel especially devised for general sports use and for that reason not suitable for more conventional uses. Attempts to modify the appearance of a culotte for conventional uses have resulted in a restriction in the freedom of movement of the legs of the wearer for sports activities.

An object of the present invent-ion is to provide a novel garment having a skirt body which is suitable for all normal uses of culottes while giving the appearance of an ordinary dress or skirt, thereby serving as a dressy garment while providing all of the advantages of a culotte with the greatest possible freedom of movement for sports activities without the need for adjustments to govern the amount of freedom between the legs of the garment.

By using the garment of the invention, a woman is permitted the widest range of leg movements and need not concern herself with undergarments showing beneath the skirt body or with unsightly bundling of the skirt or dress while the wearer is seated.

A more detailed description of the invention follows in conjunction with drawings showing the invention applied to a dress. In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a dress embodying the invention, in which the dress has a skirt body in the modified form of a culotte. The skirt body is partly broken away to show the flaps in the interior and front of the body as continuations of the crotch which divides the skirt into two legs areas, and to show the pleat in the rear;

FIGURE 1a shows the dress of the invention on a model with the skirt portion raised to reveal the flaps and leg areas of the modified form of skirt body;

FIGURE 2 is a rear view of the dress of FIGURES 1 and la and shows the rear pleat and leg areas of the skirt body;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation, in perspective, of the dress of the invention with the skirt body portion broken away to show the details of the crotch and the manner in which the parts thereof continue to the front to form flaps and panels, and also continue to the rear to form folds defining the pleat;

FIGURE 4 is a rear perspective view of the dress with the skirt body partly broken away to illustrate in greater detail the manner in which the crotch parts continue to the front of the garment to form flaps and front panels; and

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of the dress of the invention on a model, partly broken away to show how the skirt body permits the greatest possible freedom of movement of the legs of the wearer without the need for adjustable features to govern the amount of freedom between the leg areas.

Throughout the figures of the drawing, the same parts are represented by the same reference numerals.

As illustrated, the dress of the invention includes an upper body part connected as by stitching to a lower skirt body 12. The garment is provided with a zipper 14 in the front along a vertical medial line and extends from the neck encircling part to a point 15 located about -skirt body along vertical 3,315,274 Patented Apr. 25, 1967 half-way down the front of the skirt body 12 to enable the wearer to get into the garment.

The dress has a series of outer panels including the front panels 16 and 18 which are respectively connected to a pair of side panels 20 and 22 by means of vertical seams 19 and 21. In turn, the side panels 20 and 22 are connected to rear panels 24 and 26 by means of vertical seams 25 and 27. These panels together form a skirt body which is conventional in appearance and is continuous circumferentially except for the folds 28 and 30 in the rear of the garment defining a pleat which is split along the rear medial line from the bottom of the garment to a point 29. These folds 28 and 30 are continuations of a novel crotch construction.

The crotch has a concave shape and is made up of two divider parts or subpanels 32 and 34 which are stitched together only at their upper concave marginal edges along the concave line 33. (Note FIGURES 3 and 4.) As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, each subpanel 32 and 34 of the crotch is actually made up of two pieces of material stitched together end-to-end, as for example 34a and 34b stitched together along line 35. An important aspect of the invention is that the divider parts 32 and 34 continue to the front of the garment and turned outwardly as shown to form flaps 36 and 38 respectively positioned beneath the front panels 18 and 16. One side edge of flap 36 is free from attachment to the bottom of the flap to a point 39 where it is stitched to the underside of the seam 21. The corresponding side edge of flap 38 is also free from the bottom of the flap to a point 40 where it is stitched to the underside of the skirt body along vertical seam 19. The flaps constitute integral parts of subpanels 42 and 44 (note FIG- URE 4) positioned beneath outer panels 16 and 18 and which extend clear up to the waist encircling band. The divider parts 32 and 34 of the novel crotch construction also continue to the rear to form folds 28 and 30 respectively of the pleat which is split along the rear vertical medial line. (Note FIGURES 2, 3 and 5.) The stitched-together upper marginal edge 33 of the crotch divider parts 32 and 34 terminates in the front of the skirt body along the vertical medial line at a point adjacent to the lower end of zipper 14, and terminates in the rear of the skirt body along the rear vertical medial line adjacent to point 29 constituting the start of the pleat.

The crotch construction of the garment of the invention thus divides the skirt body into leg areas which enables the greatest possible freedom of movement of the legs without any restriction and without any need for adjustable features, such as zippers, to govern the amount of freedom between the legs of the skirt body.

The invention provides a conventionally appearing skirt body useful for dressy occasions which has the advantage, among others, of being useful for sport activities without introducing any restriction in the widest freedom of movement of the legs of the wearer.

What is claimed is:

1. A garment comprising an outer skirt body having a waist encircling part, a crotch within said outer skirt body connected to the front and rear vertical medial lines of said outer skirt body at points above the bottom of said body of dividing said skirt portion into two interiorly located leg areas, said crotch including two parts stitched along their upper marginal edges continuing to the front of the garmentand turned outwardly to form flaps beneath said outer skirt body, said parts continuing to the rear of the garment and each part being attached thereto along an adjacent portion thereof to form folds defining a pleat in said outer skirt body, said pleat being split along the rear vertical medial line from the bottom of the garment to said point above said bottom, a portion of said flaps along the bottom thereof being free from attachment to the bottom of said outer skirt body to enable maximum freedom of movement of the legs of the wearer, the remaining portion of each fiap above said connecting point being stitched to the interior of said outer skirt body at a point above the bottom of said outer body and having a length extending to the waist encircling part of said body whereby the continuation of each said flap forms an interior panel beneath said outer skirt body in the front of said garment.

2. A garment as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said two parts of said crotch is made up of a front part and a rear part stitched together end-to-end at a location intermediate the ends of said crotch, said crotch having a concave upper margin.

3. A garment according to claim 1, characterized in that said garment is a dress having an upper body stitched to said skirt body, said upper body having a neck encircling part, a Zipper in the front of said garment extending from said neck encircling part to a point intermediate the top and bottom of the skirt body, the upper margin of said crotch terminating at its front end at a point adjacent the bottom end of said zipper and terminating at its rear end at a point adjacent the closed end of said pleat.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 566,369 8/1896 Ahern 2-212 1,293,152 2/1919 Malsin 2-212 2,255,143 9/1941 Alexander 2-71 2,758,312 8/ 1956 Goldstein 2-212 FOREIGN PATENTS 980,337 12/ 1950 France.

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. H. H. HUNTER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GARMENT COMPRISING AN OUTER SKIRT BODY HAVING A WAIST ENCIRCLING PART, A CROTCH WITHIN SAID OUTER SKIRT BODY CONNECTED TO THE FRONT AND REAR VERTICAL MEDIAL LINES OF SAID OUTER SKIRT BODY AT POINTS ABOVE THE BOTTOM OF SAID BODY OF DIVIDING SAID SKIRT PORTION INTO TWO INTERIORLY LOCATED LEG AREAS, SAID CROTCH INCLUDING TWO PARTS STITCHED ALONG THEIR UPPER MARGINAL EDGES CONTINUING TO THE FRONT OF THE GARMENT AND TURNED OUTWARDLY TO FORM FLAPS BENEATH SAID OUTER SKIRT BODY, SAID PARTS CONTINUING TO THE REAR OF THE GARMENT AND EACH PART BEING ATTACHED THERETO ALONG AN ADJACENT PORTION THEREOF TO FORM FOLDS DEFINING A PLEAT IN SAID OUTER SKIRT BODY, SAID PLEAT BEING SPLIT ALONG THE REAR VERTICAL MEDIAL LINE FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE GARMENT TO SAID POINT ABOVE SAID BOTTOM, A PORTION OF SAID FLAPS ALONG THE BOTTOM THEREOF BEING FREE FROM ATTACHMENT TO THE BOTTOM OF SAID OUTER SKIRT BODY TO ENABLE MAXIMUM FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT OF THE LEGS OF THE WEARER, THE REMAINING PORTION OF EACH FLAP ABOVE SAID CONNECTING POINT BEING STITCHED TO THE INTERIOR OF SAID OUTER SKIRT BODY AT A POINT ABOVE THE BOTTOM OF SAID OUTER BODY AND HAVING A LENGTH EXTENDING TO THE WAIST ENCIRCLING PART OF SAID BODY WHEREBY THE CONTINUATION OF EACH SAID FLAP FORMS AN INTERIOR PANEL BENEATH SAID OUTER SKIRT BODY IN THE FRONT OF SAID GARMENT. 